The Golf Watch

2010 U.S. Open Storylines: Compton, Tryon, Jiménez, Duval...

Excited about U.S. Open week? All of the talk the next few days will be about Tiger, Phil and Lee. Here are some other storylines to watch out for:

1. Two years after his second heart transplant, Erik Compton heads to Pebble Beach. 

2. At age 16, Ty Tryon was expected to be the next big thing, especially after making the cut at the Honda Classic. Now, Tryon is 26. Time flies. 

3. 5 years ago, Jason Gore played in the final group of the U.S. Open, alongside Retief Goosen.  A lot has happened since that memorable weekend. Gore claimed his first and only victory on Tour in 2005, but after a couple of rocky years, he is splitting his time between the PGA Tour and Nationwide.  He has only made 2 out of 6 cuts on the Nationwide this year. He'll be hoping to recreate some of the magic of Pinehurst in 2005.

4. Miguel Ángel Jiménez will be recognized for years to come for his strong Ryder Cup play. But for some, he will be remembered as finishing second to Tiger Woods at the US Open at Pebble in 2000. It doesn't matter that he finished 15 strokes behind, he still finished second.

5. Hunter Mahan, Ricky Barnes, Nick Watney. My guess is that this threesome will get the least amount of air time on television, but has the greatest potential to go low.nAll three of these guys are known to play well on tough courses. Look out.  

6. Martin Kaymer, Sean O'Hair, Charl Schwartzel.The USGA always gets creative when assigning groupings for the first two days. This one I'm still trying to figure out.  Germany, U.S., South Africa? Maybe they were going for a World Cup feel. 

7. Jeff Overton and Rickie Fowler. Those are two names you won't be seeing this week.  Neither player qualified for the Open, but arguably should have. Both are inside the top-15 on the money list. Maybe one of these two should have gotten the sponsors exemption instead of Vijay.

8. David Duval. He was a contender at the U.S. Open last year. He finished runner-up at Pebble Beach twice in the mid-90's. In 2000, he finished T-7. A fine track record if you ask me.

NBC television crew earned their paychecks

A lot was said today about how difficult the rain delays were on the players at Bethpage Black.

But how about the NBC crew?  They have worked their tails off the last two days, and will do more of the same tomorrow. 

Most sporting events last three or four hours and the announcers get some form of an intermission. Other than a brief break between rounds three and four where NBC chose to show highlights from last year's Open at Torrey Pines, Dan Hicks, Johnny Miller and the rest of the crew were in the zone for eight hours. 

I thought their coverage, especially leading up to the third round, was very informative.  We saw a lot of golf and didn't have to deal with too much in the way of fluff with hokey Jimmy Roberts features.

Something I found remarkable was Mark Rolfing's appearance on The Golf Channel after network coverage ended (pictured below).  Rolfing called the action on the course for eight hours and then made his way to The Golf Channel set where he provided more analysis.

The on-air and production crews deserve a tip of the cap after a couple of marathon days.

The "ball hogs" of Bethpage Black

If you watched any of the fourth round action late Sunday, you might have noticed a rowdy group of fans stationed behind the third green asking each group that came by to throw their balls into the stands.

Plenty of golfers complied--like Lee Westwood and Michael Sim.  It was almost like a baseball stadium.  Fans yelled "throw it back" and if you dropped a ball, there was a chorus of boos. 

These fans have braved the bad weather all week.  They deserve to get a few balls thrown their way. 

Thursday U.S. Open spectators out of luck

I feel bad for the family of four that shelled out $400--arrived at Bethpage for about two hours worth of golf--and then were left to soak in the rain as they waited for what was eventually a cancellation of play.

The worst part about it is those fans will not get a refund. 

I agree with the USGA in that it would be a disaster to honor tickets for Friday's action--there would be just too many spectators with a sold-out Friday crowd.  But why not give them all an opportunity to come back on Monday and have their tickets honored then so they at least have a chance to watch more than 5 holes of golf.  Heck, why not offer a discount on tournament merchandise. 

I can only imagine how many disenchanted fans there will be after this debacle--especially those fans that are USGA members.

Update: The USGA announced Thursday tickets will be honored if play continues Monday

(drum roll) 2009 U.S. Open predictions

Winner

Ummm....Tiger?  He's finally driving the ball well and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Padraig Harrington - With wet and sloppy conditions expected, Bethpage Black will be playing more like a British Open than a U.S. Open.  Count this in Harrington's favor.

Contender

Geoff Ogilvy--As a high ball hitter, the U.S. Open will always be his major.  Since the Accenture Match Play, we haven't heard much from him.

Paul Casey--He's currently ranked third in the world.  Expect him to be at the top of the leaderboard at some point. Still don't think he is major championship ready though. 

Sleeper

Hunter Mahan--He's been pretty quiet all year.  He's known to go low early. 

Charlie Wi--One of the most consistent players on Tour.  He's already had a number of top-10 finishes this year.  With boisterous crowds following some of the bigger groups, he could fly under the radar with the likes of Health Slocum. 

Déjà vu at Bethpage?

We all remember how terrible the weather was at Bethpage in 2002.  The course was soft and played longer due to the steady rain and strong winds. 

It looks like players are going to face similar conditions all week long.  Take a look at this forecast...

 

Bethpage Black on Steroids Part II

This year's 2009 US Open trek will be juiced up again In what is becoming an all too familiar remedy for the "distance dilemma".

The par-4 7th is being lengthened by 36 yards to 525, the par-3 8th 20 yards to 230, and the part-5 13th will now be a definite layup hole as it has been lengthened by 51 yards to 605. 

The players complained about the length of Bethpage in 2002, particularly when conditions were wet.  The USGA could have learned from the success of Torrey Pines last year that length isn't always the answer.

"It’s an archaic format that needs to be changed."

Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate’s 18-hole playoff was about as thrilling as it could get. In my office, several colleagues huddled around a single computer trying to catch the live stream. This became a common sight all over the country.

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But what if Tiger had missed his birdie putt on the closing hole on Sunday, and Westwood had made his?  Would the casual golf fan be interested in a Westwood-Mediate showdown? Mark Cannizzaro of The New York Post said last night on the Grey Goose 19th hole:

I hate to criticize the USGA after it put on such a fantastic US Open this past week, but what I am hoping is that the USGA did not get seduced by this 18-hole playoff to the point where it decides to continue this format. Because it’s an archaic format that needs to be changed.  I hope that the USGA realizes that they got very lucky that Tiger Woods was involved in this thing.

I honestly hope the USGA keeps it going. A major championship of this magnitude should not be decided by three or four holes. The USGA shouldn’t compromise due to television ratings or a lack of Tiger or Phil--and I’m confident they won’t.

Ratings up for Open

NBC and USGA officials must have been pretty pleased when they saw the overnight ratings of yesterday's final round. 

Sunday's coverage earned the best overnight rating in six years, at 8.5/18.  Most impressive was the audience from 8:30-9:00 EST, which peaked at a 13.5.

Those aren't game five NBA finals numbers (17.3 million last night), but they're something to be proud of. 

Course setup for playoff will be similar to final round

Brian Hewitt of The Golf Channel spoke with the USGA's Mike Davis about what the course setup might look like tomorrow morning for the playoff.  Davis told Hewitt that the USGA is going to keep the course around the same length as it was during Sunday's final round. 

Hewitt added that they are leaning toward keeping the tees up on the driveable par-4 14th, and that the front tees on the par-5 13th could be used as well. 

This has to be good news for Rocco, a much shorter hitter, who will be playing before Tiger all day.